GENERAL ITEMS

Waikato Independent, Volume XXVII, Issue 2765, 31 March 1927, Page 3

GENERAL ITEMS

Guarding again “national softness” was urged by the Bishop of London in an address at Christchurch. He stated that when he had explained the Church

of England Empire settlement scheme to a professor in Vancouver, the latter had replied that there would be “no harm in sending serfs ovor to do the hard work for the young people did not want it.” “How about New Zealand’s young people?’ ’the Bishop asked.

in a lecture before the Canterbury Justices of the Peace Association at , Christchurch recently, Professor .J. i Macmillan Brown described the Chinese situation as “a farce.” They have a very primitive method of writing, and thus have no means of governing efficiently from one centre, He said: ‘ ‘ The generals of the armies are merely bandits, who have got enough money by looting the merchants to be able to afford to employ other bandits. Added to all this is the knavishness and childishness of the Bolsheviks.”

Are sausages nl£at in the. ordinary sense of the term? A magistrate :n Stratford has decided in the negative. Recently the Stratford Borough Council proceeded against John Butler, butcher, of Tariki, for vending meat in the borough, without a proper license and with vending meat from a travelling vehicle. The question resolved itself into tho issue whether sausages could be called meat. The magistrate reserved his decision, but judgment has now been given, dismissing both charges. The magistrate held that while, sausages delivered by. the defendant might be colloquially termed “meat,” by-law .1.1,11. defined the word as being the flesh of any slaughtered :stock whether intended for local consumtion or export, and he pointed out that, special terms-' relating to the definition did. not include cooked meats. Therefore, the sausages made by the defendant did not come within the legal definition, and tho case would be dismissed. Owing to this finding there was no case to answer in respect of other charges of v|ending meat without a license. An application for costs against the inspector was refused.

A gang of youthful railway workers who are engaged on the line a few miles north of Wanganui, have entered into a novel pact (remarks the Herald). The agreement is that no dance tunes shall be whistled or sung for a week, and that if members of. the gang feci disposed to burst into song they shall sing hymns. The most popular of these so far has been “Onward Christian Soldiers.” Those who violate the rule are made to perform some menial duty which is not altogether pleasant. If passers-by think they have stumbled into a revival meeting or an open air mission, they will know that the railway gangsters arc merely giving expression to their contentment in a dif - ferent form. After all, “The Prisoner’s Song” and “That Certain Party” do pall at times.

Users of the public highways and byways arc always on the look-out to do good turns to one another, but, as the poot has it, “one can go too far.” The drivers of bulk petrol delivery waggons can. vouch for this, for the chain

? (a lightning conductor) which by law these lorries arc compelled to have ‘dragging along the ground, has been tho cause of much misplaced kindness. Many motorists —and even cyclists — have gone to endless trouble to warn the drivers that this unfortunate chain was out of position and likely to cause trouble. One budding eyding champion even went so far as to chase a petrol waggon for three miles to tell the driver about his chain. Another, going in the, opposite direction to the waggon was so anxious to attract the driver’s attention that ho did not see a heap of in front of him, and consequently took an undignified header over tho, handle-bars.

A prominent Timaru merchantilc man, in conversation with a Herald reporter, referring to the wheat growing industry, said' that the present agitation to protect tho industry, had caused general interest, and there was no doubt but that the success of the efforts to obtain a payable price was a matter of importance to tho public generally. What with present prices ruling for lamb, wheat, oats, and dairy produce, there was no question but that farmers were, on the whole, not makingends meet, This could not go on indefinitely. It stood to reason that where a country depended entirely upon its primary produce, the producer could not have liioney to spend if the revenue which he derived was less than the cost of production. And under such circumstances the townspeople must also bo affected.